RCCL/Celebrity Air of ZERO use

[Bruin Steve]

We've used RCCL Air2Sea and Flights by Celebrity for our air travel on most cruises over the last several years.  It has worked well for us for several reasons:

--Refundable Ticketing, cancelable if plans change (Very important during pandemic as we had several cruises canceled and cancelation of flights was easy/connected)

--Not paying for tickets until Final cruise payment date.

--Flexibility to change if better flights/fares became available.

--Often better fares than airline or major sites...but at least competitive.

 

We have booked two cruises for June 2025--Ravenna to Ravenna on RCCL followed by Ravenna to Rome on Celebrity.  For us, we NEVER fly in right before a cruise.  Always at least a few days early and try to add a little touring to that pre-cruise.  Try also to NOT fly out immediately at cruise disembarkation.  Best to stay a couple of days and enjoy the disembarkation city.

 

Ravenna poses an additional problem.  It's NOT Venice.  It's a complicated 2.5 hour drive by car or 4+ hour trip by public transportation from Marco Polo Airport.  Especially wanting to spend a few days pre-cruise, there are lots of other arrival airports that make just as much sense as flying to Venice.

 

What we WANT to do is to fly into Vienna instead.  Spend maybe 3 or 4 nights there, take the train to Salzburg for a couple of nights, then to Innsbruck, then down to Ravenna for the night prior to the cruise.  Then we wanted to spend two nights in Rome after the second cruise.  EASY-Fly LAX to Vienna around May 28 or 29, then fly Rome to LAX on June 29.

 

The RCCL Air2Sea link shows us nothing--even LAX-Venice/Venice-LAX on the exact cruise dates (and we're within 11 months of both).  The Celebrity site actually shows flights and fares for the exact cruise dates of that cruise--into Venice and out of Rome...And, changing Venice to Vienna, it even shows flights/fares for that.  But, changing the LAX Vienna flight to a week or so earlier and we get "No Flights Found".

 

So, I call Celebrity Air/Air2Sea.  They tell me they understand what I want...and, yes, it makes perfect sense...BUT...they CANNOT do it!  They tell me they can ONLY book me INTO VENICE.  New corporate policy.

 

Think about it.  Venice is limiting.  Fewer nonstops.  Difficult transportation to port.  It makes more sense to many to fly into Milan.  OR do a round trip to Rome for that Ravenna to Rome cruise (might find better choice of flights, better train connections).

 

So, now I know that I cannot count on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity assist me with air transportation to get me to and from their cruises.  I guess I have to look for flights independently, pay for full airfare way in advance, get non-cancelable, nonrefundable tickets that I will be stuck with even if RCCL/Celebrity cancels or changes my cruise...AND THEY HAVE.  During the restart after the pandemic, they moved my Apex cruise from Barcelona to ATHENS! (Good thing my air was through Celebrity).  We had friends supposed to travel with us on our recent Japan cruise on Millennium and Celebrity arbitrarily canceled their cruise!

[FlyerTalker]

You mean that cruiseline-provided air isn't the be all and end all?

 

Airlines are operating at record load factors.  Corporate contracts are being scaled back, with fewer inclusions and reduced discounting.  There is less and less reason to give attractive packages to cruiselines.

 

You want to enjoy Vienna before cruising out of Italy, yet want the cruiseline to facilitate your separate vacation wishes.  Why should they?

 

Finally, you can easily get to Ravenna via Bologna.   Multiple ways to get from BLQ to Ravenna - personally, I would get the direct bus from the airport to Rimini, where you are across the street from the train station that takes you direct to Ravenna.  Or stay in Rimini for a few days and make an easy day trip to San Marino.

 

 

[6rugrats]

Have you tried doing this yourself directly with the airlines and seeing if you can find something better?  Most airlines don't charge for cancellations, at least US ones, allowing you to change your flights if you find something better later, at no charge.

[Bruin Steve]

UPDATE:  Since I feel more comfortable having something booked as early as possible, we went ahead and tried to get something booked...even if we end up later replacing it, at least we have it as a "hedge".  Playing within their rules, we booked it into Venice arriving with 9 nights to spend prior to our departure from Ravenna--flight arrives 3:15 pm.  Rather than starting off in Vienna as we first envisioned, we've booked one night in Mestre--near Marco Polo Airport.  So we'll try to get a train or other transportation from there to Vienna the following day, spend three nights in Vienna...then train to Salzburg--2 nights...then to Innsbruck for 2 nights...The a train or bus to Ravenna for the night prior to the cruise...One extra train...and a wasted travel day.  But it works.

 

Booking is cancelable...Fare, for Economy class...on British Airways (both ways--this and Rome to LAX after cruise) is $1550 pp.  Seems a bit higher than we're accustomed to paying for LAX-Europe and back...But I guess it might just be prices going up.  If we see prices drop for similar flights, we'll just re-book. 

 

Celebrity/RCCL also gave us an opthion on Finn Air for $11 pp less...But layover in Helsinki on the way there was only an hour and I felt a little uncomfortable with that short a time when first entering Europe.

 

I'll keep monitoring prices.

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, Bruin Steve said:

Playing within their rules, we booked it into Venice arriving with 9 nights to spend prior to our departure from Ravenna--flight arrives 3:15 pm.  Rather than starting off in Vienna as we first envisioned, we've booked one night in Mestre--near Marco Polo Airport.  So we'll try to get a train or other transportation from there to Vienna the following day ...

 

How about the Nightjet? If you're planning to spend 12 to 15 hours on the train, you may as well go direct, and also save yourself a hotel night at the same time.

 

However, with a 1515 arrival at VCE it might be a bit brave to book this for the same night.

[Bruin Steve]

3 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

How about the Nightjet? If you're planning to spend 12 to 15 hours on the train, you may as well go direct, and also save yourself a hotel night at the same time.

 

However, with a 1515 arrival at VCE it might be a bit brave to book this for the same night.

It's definitely intriguing...I remember when I traveled Europe one summer while at University, taking as many overnight trains as I could in order to save money on hotels...so, boy, do I have some stories!  

 

Anyway, I ran the idea by my wife...and she doesn't like the idea of getting off of 15 hours worth of airplanes and connections overnight and getting onto a train--even one with a sleeping compartment for a second straight night.

 

I have been able to book the Hilton Garden Inn Mestre on "points"...so, we could get to the hotel , have dinner and get a full night's sleep, then get some form of transportation the next morning.

 

Some sites seem to suggest there are buses direct Mestre to Vienna that can do it in under 8 hours.

 

Of course, it also looks like we can fly Austrian Airlines at 1:55 that next morning for 109 Euros pp including one checked bag.

 

[Bruin Steve]

40 minutes ago, Bruin Steve said:

Of course, it also looks like we can fly Austrian Airlines at 1:55 that next morning for 109 Euros pp including one checked bag.  NOTE: Typo...actually 10:55 am!

 

And it went up 10 euros pp while I was thinking about it!

 

BUT...it still sounded like a vast improvement over ANY long train or bus ride...

And, I figure, even if I restructure the longer flights, we're still aiming at landing in Venice on the 29th...SO, I just pulled the trigger and booked it...comes out to $260 US for the both of us...We can get into Venice, stay at the Hilton, get up the next day, have some breakfast and head back to the airport...and be in Vienna by NOON!  And the cost is actually in line with a lot of the train/bus costs...

 

And, even iof we flew directly to Vienna, we'd get there some time on the 29th and pay for a hotel room in Vienna one extra night.  Doesn't really matter where we recover from jet lag...Venice or Vienna...

Edited July 18 by Bruin Steve